Tattletale's Report

Do parahuman powers really come from aliens?

It looks like it. Thirty five years ago, a vast and unknowable alien entity appeared outside Earth's orbit. This Entity perpetuates its existence through a cycle:
First, it breaks off thousands of pieces of itself, each containing different aspects of the entity's powers and consciousness. These pieces - which humans know as the Corona Polentia and Ebony Maw calls "Outsiders" - travel to earth to seek out human hosts. Once the Outsider bonds with the host, it lies dormant until the host has a trigger event; at which point the Outsider "activates" and imbues the host with superpowers.
The way that these powers are expressed is determined by the circumstances of their trigger event and - to a lesser extent - the hosts psychology. For example. an Outsider's ability might be mind control. If the host triggers while being attacked by a single individual, the resulting power might be to control one person. If the trigger event is an attack by animals, the resulting power might be to control that kind of animal.
Every iteration of this cycle teaches the Outsider a new expression of it's power. When the host dies, the Outsider returns to the Entity. The Entity absorbs the Outsider's knowledge, becoming more powerful and versatile, then sends it back to Earth to find a new host and repeat the cycle anew. This cycle perpetuates the Entity's existence. As it becomes more powerful, the Outsiders - and, by extension, the abilities received by the next host - become more powerful as well

How does this relate to Infinity's plan?

The Entity - and, by extension, us - draws power from a cosmic ocean of raw creative matter that Ebony Maw calls "the Secret Sea", which is basically the source of all powers. The flesh regenerated by healing factors, the obstacles summoned by Shakers, the energy wielded by Blasters; all of it comes from the Secret Sea.
Each Outsider has what can be thought of as an "access code" that allows them to draw from the Secret Sea in very limited and specific ways, as determined by the limits of their power.
Infinity has a way to turn a living parahumans Corona Polentia into an object that allows him to steal their powers. If Infinity gets the strongest Corona Polentias from each category, the Secret Sea will recognize him as it's rightful administrator- giving him unlimited access to the source of all powers.
Besides the obvious dangers of a cosmic tyrant with unlimited power; this is bad for us because the first thing Infinity will do is take back all the superpowers on earth - killing all capes in the process.

You keep mentioning the Corona Polentia, which is only found in trigger capes. How do the formula capes factor in to all this?

The Black Order has tech that track the locations of the highest rated capes in each category. Infinity's plan only works with natural capes, but they don't even know that the formula exists. Their tech tracks power levels only and does not distinguish between formula capes and trigger capes. Because he doesn't know about formula capes, Infinity shouldn't realize his power won't work on them until he's already captured them. We might be able to use that against him.

Plot type

Plot Reveal